My Kind of Birthday

May I be honest?

I'm going to be honest.

I almost didn't write this post.

By noon today I was pretty sure I was going to let this day go by as quietly as possible.

Because yesterday, my flip phone broke in half, meaning I couldn't call out from it, and around 10:30 a slew of emails from PayPal made it pretty clear that someone had created a PayPal account using my email address, and because my phone was broken in half I couldn't authenticate my identity with PayPal to do anything about it--meaning I awoke with two tasks already set: buy a phone and wrangle with the short-staffed and honestly uncaring PayPal.

Because the first thing I had to do this morning was start some laundry because Kensie had thrown up in her bed for some unknown reason (she was fine the rest of the day).

Because chores were marked mainly by mud and raindrops.

Because when I got home from buying a cell phone, the little pigs were running all over the barnyard--meaning all the work I put in yesterday trying to secure their ailing chain link had been for naught and I had to start all over.

I decided to eat lunch before I dealt with them. And before eating I prayed. Not in any real faith, mostly as a public show to the kids of how one could pray when one was having a bad day: "God, please let this day get better. Please help me to find a reason to smile. Change my attitude and help me see the good in what happens."

Things didn't get better, at least not at first. The rain stopped but the barn yard was still mud. Have you ever chased pigs?... Oh. Right. Chasing pigs is not fun. I didn't catch any, I didn't even try--once a critical mass of them had gone back in through their hole the rest wanted to go in and it was a matter of standing in strategic locations tapping our feet while they shoved their noses through every hole in the chain link until they finally arrived at the enlarged one. This time I wised up and used the good pliers, carefully weaving the link back together and creating a small loop at the end of each one which was then screwed to the frame with deck screws... it's holding so far!

Anyway, after that I went inside and fought with PayPal for an hour or so. My account access is limited because they suspect some kind of fraud may be taking place! They are obviously very bright. Their solution is that I need to upload some form of photo ID before I can do anything with my account. That's right, I can't close my account that somebody else has been logging into and fiddling with without uploading an image of my driver's license. In case you didn't know, giving a random hacker from Russia an image of your driver's license is a bad idea. Write that down.

Anyway, I was at least able to disable one-touch login, so he would have to type the password every time he tried to log in, and also set the account to a 2 step login system which means every time somebody tries to log in they have to use an authentication code that PayPal texts to my phone. So now if he tries to login 1. I'll know and 2. He won't have to code and he will fail. I still want to wait a little while before I put in my drivers' license and fully retake control of my account... Unfortunately due to Covid 19 PayPal is staffed only by very stubborn and intentionally dense chat 'bots. Thanks anyway, Cameron.

Anyway, after all that I tturned on a movie for the kids so I could take a long bath and comb all my hairs. This was where the day started to turn around, because that felt so good. And then I started working on dinner, which is when things really turned around, because I wanted sea food fajitas, and guys. I make bomb seafood fajitas. Like check this out.

Can you see the flavor? Oh man. You're probably wondering how I managed to eat all that.

Pretty much like this. Oh, and by the way--that was my second fajita.

Anyway, with a dinner like that things had to be better. Evening chores went ok, Bean was a good helper in the barn, and then Tea did dishes, which was a great boon. And then I had to decorate the cake I baked yesterday. Because I had gone a wee bit overboard on berries at the store today, it practically decorated itself.

Nothing easier than a chocolate ganache, folks!

Anyhow, at long last it's almost bed time. I've been up late for various reasons for 3 nights in a row, and I'm done with that life.